liamcottle
AppImage & Ubuntu not working well together aka Unprivileged user namespace restrictions
After successfully running MeshChat on Manjaro and MX Linux I wasn't expecting a problem with a fresh install of Xubuntu. Sadly, it has proven impossible to get MeshChat running, for a variety of reasons.
(i) Changes to Ubuntu which restrict unprivileged user namespace. You can read about them here; https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/noble-numbat-two-appimage-apps-fail-with-sandbox-error/27994
Downgrading the security to allow MeshChat to work appears to reveal some other problems specific to MeshChat. For example, if one tries the --no-sandbox approach, MeshChat throws an error box that indicates it is trying and failing to process the --no-sandbox flag. MeshChat then crashes.
echo 0 | sudo tee /proc/sys/kernel/apparmor_restrict_unprivileged_userns has no effect, either.
(ii) Manual installation appears to hit a different problem.
~/Software/reticulum-meshchat$ npm install --omit=dev npm ERR! code UNABLE_TO_GET_ISSUER_CERT_LOCALLY npm ERR! errno UNABLE_TO_GET_ISSUER_CERT_LOCALLY npm ERR! request to https://registry.npmjs.org/yaml/-/yaml-2.6.1.tgz failed, reason: unable to get local issuer certificate
While there are workarounds and hacks suggested online, none of them have worked in this case.
I have spent about ten hours battling through this trying to find a solution. Are there any Ubuntu users here who have faced similar problems with MeshChat, and what solution worked for you?
I've merged in #81 which allows for --no-sandbox to be passed in. I've also setup an Xubuntu VM to test that it's working when running ./meshchat.AppImage --no-sandbox from terminal. Flag will be available in the next release, or if you build from source.
Safer method could be setting up a AppArmor profile: https://github.com/liamcottle/reticulum-meshchat/issues/107#issuecomment-3358679165
Tested that only in a Ubuntu 24.04 VM.
